SOTF Mini Universes
Universe: The Program SOTF: The Program is set in an alternate reality where America is under the control of an authoritarian military regime, headed by a mysterious dictator known only as "The General." Much of the legislation of the government concerns the military and its affairs, and it encompasses a sizable chunk of the country's way of life. Two five year periods of military service are compulsory for all citizens, and may be called in at nearly any point in a person's life. Furthermore, the US incorporates a draft system, making it possible for even those who have served their ten years to be pressed back into military service. Crime is punished not by jail, but by additional years of service. All that is done, is done for the good of the American war machine. Amidst all of the red tape and bureaucracy surrounding the military, one particular scheme stands apart, distinct. This is known as "The Program." Taking place four times a year, The Program is broadcast live on TV for its entire duration, whether that be seventeen hours or eleven days, four hours (the respective shortest and longest records). What happens during The Program? Up to fifty high school students between tenth and twelfth grade take part in a deadly competition. It's kill or be killed—they must wipe one another out until only one is left standing. The participants are seemingly selected by lottery. First the high school is chosen, then the year of the students. After that, the names of those who will be taking part in The Program are selected, and the students concerned are taken by the military for transport to the location of the game. This takes place on specific dates known as Announcement Days, where every student from every high school in America will assemble at their respective schools to hear the results of the lottery announced live, sometimes by The General himself. Not attending an Announcement Day, regardless of whether or not you are chosen for The Program, is an offence punishable by summary execution. What you need to know/take note of for RPing purposes: * The school/year of the students selected for the game will be announced ahead of time, and must be adhered to. * Unless their family has been in the US for multiple generations, students should not hail from a another country, and they should definitely not be on foreign exchange. * It is a criminal offence to own a firearm if you are not active duty military, so characters should not have any kind of expertise with guns unless it is extremely well justified. * The Program is common knowledge, as it is a TV show as well as a government scheme. Announcement Day's are always on the same dates, so are also known. * What happens to the winners is unknown to almost all—they vanish from the public eye and are not seen again by their families after the game's conclusion. The locations for The Program are different every time. No prior indication is given of which schools will be chosen. * Primary differences between this universe and our own are the justice system (offences punished by military service), firearm and travel restrictions (banned), military service (two compulsory five year terms), Internet restrictions, the expulsion of immigrants that weren't "American enough" some fifty years ago, and a ban on foreign goods/media (unless doctored to seem American made). The government is not overly oppressive except for in these key areas. * That said, anti-American material isn't allowed; it is a nationalistic dictatorship, after all. * Racism is quite institutional in Program America due to the emphasis on America being the greatest above all else. Whilst not state-sponsored, minorities tend to suffer from discrimination. Sometimes this is overt violence, but the most common form is subtle and insidious treatment like second-class citizens. * Patriotism and The American Way (war), are often drilled into children by parents, and many students may be to some degree raised with these social mores. * The Program has been in place since 2015. It is currently the year 2025. * If there is anything you are unsure about or think needs to be added, please contact staff such that this can be updated. ---- The following is the rough geography of the world of The Program: American Colonized Territories These areas are considered effectively part of the United States of America. They have been subjugated and/or annexed and pacified to the point where American citizens are permitted to move there, should they so choose. Natives are considered to be American, but for obvious reasons, they are looked down upon and generally treated with suspicion. It is also permitted to move to parts of the USA from these colonized territories, but this is very expensive and requires a rigorous background check to be passed. * Canada * Greenland * Mexico * Much of South America, with the exception of Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina * New Zealand American Occupied Territories These are areas subjugated by or largely under the control of the United States, but that have not had sufficient infrastructure, government, personnel, or general resources put into them to be considered viable living spaces for American citizens. While this is an objective for the government, to a greater or lesser long-term extent, suppression of resistance and maintaining order are considered to be first priority. * Paraguay * Chile * Iceland * Ireland * Norway * Sweden Active War-Zones United States troops are committed in these countries. The conflicts might not be particularly active at any given moment, but they are nevertheless considered to be military operations. In the cases of fronts like Eastern Russia and parts of Africa, lines have remained static for years, and military bases have very nearly become towns in their own right. On others, there is near constant fierce fighting. * Argentina * British Isles * Large portions of North-Western Africa * Eastern Russia * Finland * Denmark (at the border to Sweden) ---- The Program has few special rules; it is the universe where games play out most like on the Main SOTF site. That said, from time to time a version may have individual quirks or rules (as in the first version of The Program, which was conducted without the use of collars or Danger Zones), and you should pay attention to any announcements made at the start of a version. Universe: SOTF-TV SOTF-TV is set in an alternate reality, a dystopian future where the entertainment industry became stagnant. Everything seemed to have been seen, done, and written before. The populace became sick of endless sequels, reboots, and re-envisionings, and at the inauthenticity of much entertainment. The world, put simply, was jaded. Nothing new ever happened, everything was simply a rehash of a derivation of an imitation. Then one TV show changed all that. SOTF-TV is the undisputed king of the mountain, because it is real. Nothing approaches the raw intensity of high school kids in an extreme, life-or-death situation, and it draws millions upon millions of viewers every day of its broadcast. When the show is out of season, people watch re-runs or highlights or analysis or derivative works, holding them dear and rabidly awaiting the next edition. Money? You couldn't believe how much this thing makes. Drama will be drama, though, and the directors periodically throw in bizarre twists to the SOTF-TV formula, whether through exotic locations, strange weapons, or even interference with the contestants themselves. This doesn't tend to go down well with those who enjoy betting on the show, who often accuse the executives of fixing things, and some seasons attain infamy for being poorly handled, but nothing has ever come close to dislodging the juggernaut that is SOTF. Sometimes executives are fired, but the game always bounces back. Contestants for the show are obtained through straight up abuse of authority. The producers are backed by the government, and if the men in suits show up at a school saying they want a few specific students, they are going to get them. What you need to know/take note of for RPing purposes: * There will be a number of preset years/schools that the students will be drawn from, so take note of these when creating a character and make sure you read up on others. After all, characters should know others from their school, and should not know strangers. SOTF-TV does not always imply multiple schools, but it is a fairly common feature of the universe. * SOTF-TV is public knowledge and is very popular with the age range the characters themselves are in. Everyone should know about it, and even those who are largely apathetic will have likely seen clips from friends, on the news, or so forth. Protest is decently widespread, and characters—even the most rabid fans—are not utterly desensitized to violence as a general rule. There is, however, a world of difference between watching SOTF on TV, where it's a million miles away and totally socially acceptable, and actually being on it, let alone in some other extreme situation. * Primary differences from the real world are the entertainment industry (films, television shows, and the like are viewed as stale, and anything made after about 2000 is likely to be somewhat obscure. Much of the media in the real world exists, but it tends to be poorly-received, shoestring budget, or niche appeal). Characters can still have interest in various non-SOTF media, particularly if it's vintage, it's just that it's very hard to find decent new stuff that does not relate to SOTF in some fashion. At the same time, there's a huge amount of SOTF-derived spinoff material, including music, video games, books, TV shows, and movies. Good ideas tend to be bought and subsumed by the SOTF industry. * There are often deliberate flaws in the design of the collars for SOTF-TV, as escape gets ratings just as much as mass murder. Don't expect them to be blatant, repeated, or easy to exploit, but they're there. The directors are also hesitant to detonate collars, because that's bad for TV. * The first version of SOTF-TV (Season Sixty-Five in-universe) took place in the fall of 2020, with Season Sixty-Six (the second roleplayed version) following in winter. Season Sixty-Seven will take place in Spring 2021. SOTF-TV was launched in 2006. * If there is anything you are unsure about or think needs to be added, please contact staff such that this can be updated. ---- While not required reading, a large amount of the history of SOTF-TV has been crafted by staff and members. An index for this may be found here, including summaries in varying levels of detail of many past seasons including all of the most recent ones except Season Sixty-Six (which is a work in progress). A list of past winners who have been detailed, including brief summaries, may be found here. If you would like to contribute to the lore of SOTF-TV, you are welcome to submit work for inclusion. Past seasons should be suggested through this thread. SOTF-TV also has a special writing program called "World of TV," an explanation for which may be found here. ---- SOTF-TV has a number of special rules which differentiate it from the other universes, the most common of which are as follows: * Team Victory: Characters in SOTF-TV are sometimes grouped into teams. These are assigned largely at random, both in and out of character. Should multiple characters from a single team reach Endgame together, they may all win, and thus survive. However, it is important to note that, should the winner be determined by rolls, any characters rolled must die, even if one of their teammates is determined the eventual winner. This is to keep up fairness and unpredictability; it prevents a character with teammates in Endgame from having too notably higher odds of survival. *'Ten-Kill Release:' The producers often offer release to the first contestant to achieve ten kills. Should a character hit ten kills, they become eligible for removal from the game, should their handler choose. To remove a character from the game, please contact a staffer. We will ensure that an IC post from us, confirming this and removing the character from the game, is posted within three OOC days. Until the staff post has been made, a character with ten kills is still subject to rolls, and, if rolled, must still die. After the staff post is made, the character's story must be wrapped up within their next post. All characters are still subject to activity at all times. This is the same method which was used in TV V1, and it has now been explicitly codified. Should a character achieve ten kills and die, the reward will not be offered to a second character to hit ten. The producers aren't that generous. This rule exists to allow handlers to take the time they need to wrap island stories, while at the same time representing the risk being on the island poses and incentivizing speed should they wish a notable killer to survive. *'Escape:' Should characters successfully enact any part of an escape, they are still subject to rolls and activity until or unless staff states otherwise. This is an area we'll play by ear, but will generally default to the realistic choice; unless a kid is somewhere where they can't be killed, they'll still be subject to rolls. *'Bandannas:' In games featuring teams, students must wear an official team bandanna in a visible location at all times. Should a student not be wearing a bandanna for over thirty seconds, their collar will begin to beep. The rapidity will increase over the course of five minutes, after which the collar will detonate. The only exception comes if a bandanna is stolen, in which case the producers tend towards mercy. However, note that they pay close attention and are not stupid; any attempts to game the system will result in collar detonation. In practice, if you are unsure about the results of any course of action re: bandannas, please consult a staff member for a ruling. *'Abduction Details:' Students for SOTF-TV are all removed on the same day. Where and how, however, is not always consistent. Typically, some students are taken from their homes before school, while others are taken from class. Which method is used is the result of research from the producers; the kids are grabbed wherever they are less likely to resist and cause trouble. If your kid's parents might resist in any potentially-effective-or-violent fashion, then the students are taken at school. No exceptions. The TV operatives use force only if required and the minimum in those cases. They do not execute parents, protestors, etc. All kids are taken to a van and then knocked out via gas, to reawaken during the prologue. If you have any questions about this, please contact staff for assistance. Please check the information at the launch of each version in case of changes or exceptions to this rule. *'Mentors:' In versions with teams, each team is assigned a mentor—a staff-controlled NPC tasked with assisting their group of students to the best of their abilities. Each mentor will be able to address each of their students once per announcement cycle. Each is controlled by a single staff member (or, rarely, a non-staff handler), who is also responsible for reading all the kids assigned to the team they're mentoring. They will be the best staff member to approach for general issues or mentor-related specifics, as they will be familiar with your character. In the case of non-staff mentors, contact their handler for all mentor-related queries, and any other staff member for other matters. Universe: Second Chances Second Chances takes place in an alternate universe where the various SOTF games never happened. There were no abductions, no death games, and no terrorists. The students populating the world have no concept of anything like SOTF beyond the events of previous versions of SC, because in their world, it's never happened. They don't "remember" anything about their respective versions or how their original incarnations died because for the purposes of the RP they are not the same character. They might look the same, act the same and have the same backstory, but always keep in mind that they are an alternate version to the original—they haven't come back to life. Second Chances is the version closest to the Main SOTF game in story. In the SC universe, a group of terrorists, led by the mysterious Victor Danya, kidnapped thirty-eight students from Colehurst Secondary School in Highland Beach, California, executed one, and forced the remainder to fight until a sole survivor (Nick Reid) remained. They then vanished... until 2017, when they returned to enact their schemes once more. Characters in Second Chances should fit comfortable into the real world—in fact, the biggest hurdle will likely be the removal of universe-specific elements for characters hailing from The Program or SOTF-TV. ---- Second Chances has a number of special rules, mostly related to use of characters, as all characters in this version are returning from past games. The following characters are eligible for Second Chances versions: *Any character from Main who did not win or escape and did not feature in a past version of SC. Characters who are rolled may not be submitted before their deaths are completed on Main. *Any character from a Mini or AU who died in that game without winning and did not feature in a past version of SC, except BR AU characters. The following characters are ineligible for SC2: *Any character who won their version, regardless of whether or not they subsequently died or what form their victory took (ten-kill winners from TV and any sort of co-winner are thus out). *Any BR AU character. *Any character who featured in a past version of SC proper (characters who were submitted but did not end up in-game may be used for later iterations of SC). *Any character who escaped their home version or otherwise survived the island. *Any character from RPs not officially hosted by Main or Mini (ex: Mercy Street, Arena, REvo) Differences from the first run of SC are that Endgamers are now allowed, and escapees are now not allowed. If you are submitting someone else's character and secured permission somewhere other than one of the SC planning threads, please forward proof of that permission to staff. You must secure permission of a character's original handler unless that handler is unreachable, in which case a handler who adopted the character is acceptable. If all handlers who have held a character are unreachable, that character may not be used. If you do not have an eligible character of your own but still wish to participate, check out the planning boards, where many handlers offer their characters for use. Universe(s): AUs Alternate Universes (AUs) are smaller, often handler-run games hosted on SOTF Mini. Thus far, three AUs have actually been run: The Battle Royale AU (which was not completed), SOTF: Evolution, and Virtua-SOTF (which was initially intended as a third primary universe, a role taken by Second Chances due to handler response). AUs are the responsibility of their creators. After much consideration, staff has decided to, on a trial basis, once again allow handler-run AU games to be hosted on Mini. There are, however, a notable number of restrictions and caveats at play. We feel that all handlers, prospective AU-runners and prospective AU-players alike, should be aware of the following: AUs operate somewhat outside the realm of normal Mini play. They are typically not hosted with involvement by staff. As such, staff make no guarantees and offer no endorsements of any AU as a collective (unless specifically stated otherwise in the context of a given AU); AUs hosted on Mini fill a role somewhat akin to more formalized and glorified Other RPing games. Staff have taken certain precautions to ensure a baseline level of competence in the running of AUs, and to increase the likelihood that they run to completion, but that is the extent of staff's involvement. Caveat emptor. If you would like to run an AU, you must fulfill the following requirements: *You must be a handler in good standing with a record of participation on Mini. This means you must have either played one game on Mini to completion or have been an active member of the Mini community, RPing in a game of some variety, for at least six months. Playing in AUs does not count for playing a Mini to completion, but it does count for being an active member of the community. Being in good standing means that you are not on final warning and have not been banned in the past year. *You must provide staff with a complete AU setup to begin the process. That means that you must have: *'A summary pitch' of one to three paragraphs explaining what your game is about. This is quick and to-the-point. *'A list' of ways the AU's rules differ from the rules of Mini. Every difference must be carefully noted. Profile templates are the most common point of departure, but weapon assignments, Danger Zones, inactivity, Endgame and Epilogue procedures, and so on all also merit mention. *'A document detailing roleplaying information' that handlers should know. This is a direct, out-of-character summary of the ways your setting differs from the real world. *'A tentative timeline/planning document.' This lays out the number of characters the AU is designed for, as well as a general schedule for applications, game start, rolls, etc. This must include a clear ending point. This should not be keyed to actual dates (January 27, November 4, March 19, etc.) but rather to markers (Day 1, Month 4, Week 2, etc.). Note that there are a number of major restrictions on game-runners in this arena, explained in later sections. *'A fully-detailed arena.' This means all areas fully written and detailed. Each area description should be a small to medium paragraph that gives sufficient information for handlers to roleplay around. Notable objects and points of geography should be clearly pointed out. *'A Prologue', as well as any non-handler-influenced fluff and flavor text. The Prologue gets the game started, so is needed right at the start. If there are any non-player-based elements of the story that will play out over the course of the game, they should also be prewritten. *'Information on any and all twists, turns, and deceptions' perpetrated over the course of the game. If all the characters are going to be bombarded by gamma beams halfway through and mutate into dinosaurs, staff must know in advance. If nobody really dies but in fact merely awake from a dream, staff must know in advance. We realize this crimps the style of AU-runners a little, but there's enough of a history of questionable game turns that staff insists upon this point. *'As a further note', your AU may not be set in any of the primary Mini universes (The Program, SOTF-TV, or Second Chances) without prior staff approval (which will almost certainly not be granted). Your AU may not be linked to AUs run by other members without explicit permission provided by them directly to staff (and this includes "spiritual successors" of the sort where the serial numbers have just been filed off—the distinctions should be very clear). You may, however, launch your AU under the banner of Virtua-SOTF so long as it otherwise meshes with that universe's core conceits. *You must name a second, and have them contact staff accepting that role. A second is a handler trusted to take over running of the AU in the event of your loss of interest, disappearance, banning, etc. The second must fulfill all other criteria here as well, and must not have their own AU in the queue. Staff reserve the right to promote the second at any time should they judge the game's initial runner to be acting in bad faith or have abandoned the game. Should a second be promoted, they must immediately find a new second of their own. A second may or may not have a game role prior to their promotion (such as, say, being allowed to handler applications and assist in rolls). You may additionally promote up to two further assistants to handle such matters. These further assistants must meet all other criteria here, but may have their own AUs in the queue or in progress. Furthermore, staff are taking a page from the Mafiascum playbook and imposing a number of restrictions upon all first-time AU runners, as follows: *The game must be keyed to between five and twenty characters. While twenty characters is a small number indeed, staff is keen to see AUs not bite off more than they can chew. We recommend but do not require a one-character-per-handler limit in light of this, at least until a decent number of handlers have had a chance to apply. *The game should have an ideal duration of no more than six months, including applications and allotting roughly one month for Endgame (unless there's a very good structural reason to believe Endgame will not take that long). Staff are totally aware that things come up, delays happen, etc. and you will not be punished for such occurrences; at the same time, we must be convinced that the plan is made in good faith and some level of realism assuming an optimistic yet plausible scenario. *The game should not monkey too much with core game mechanics and twists. This is a judgment call, and staff don't mean to hamper creativity and is open to a level of negotiation upon this point. You should feel free to consult with staff on given mechanics, twists, etc. prior to drafting your AU, so you're not unpleasantly surprised come your submission. Upon successful completion of your first AU, all these restrictions become negotiable in the future. To have these restrictions tentatively lifted, you must have completed your own AU from start to end, or have been appointed to running a game as a second before the 25% completion mark. These restrictions apply even to staff members who are not admins—we mused on this, and while staff all have experience running games, the level and duration of that experience is pretty variable and there's no fair way to draw a line there. Admins can do whatever they want. Staff do not run quality control on submitted AUs unless something is blatantly unworkable or slapdash. AUs live or die by whether or not handlers are intrigued enough to participate in them. We leave that decision to the community. An AU that fulfills all criteria will enter a queue on a first-come-first-served basis. Staff will launch AUs at a pace no greater than one per month (defined as at least thirty days between launches, not calendar months). The pace may be slower as staff desires, and game launches may be held to avoid conflict with primary Mini launches. AUs will be kept in their own little section at the bottom of the board, and likely be archived in an umbrella forum once a sufficient quantity exist. They already have their own channel on the Mini Discord, and are welcome on the Mini Wiki. You may enter a new AU to the queue as soon as one of yours is complete. You may establish persistent universes and continuity between your AUs. You may also, if you so desire, spin your AU off into its own site. The Mini staff requests that if you do so, a link back to Mini appears near the top of the board in question (in the rough equivalent of the "Important" section on Mini). Mini will link to your board in the section that hosted your AU. You are welcome to port over any text from your version (including the whole thing's text as an archive if you so desire) but we require that it be noted that Mini was the origin. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact staff. Also, staff reserves the right to terminate this program at any time, without any notice. Should this occur, AUs in progress at the time will be allowed to continue. Those in the queue may or may not be allowed to launch—no promises on this point. We hope not to pull the plug on this, but it is a possibility we note in the interests of full disclosure. Category:Game Mechanics